All throughout my iPEC training to be a coach, one message was sent loud and clear: pick a niche! On subsequent calls and in other related programs, the same message was sent louder and clearer: pick a niche!
What does this mean? Picking a niche means narrowing down the group of people that I am targeting with my coaching, preferably as much as possible. Kind of like picking a specialty. It's not enough to say, "I'm a life coach." The more specific my target audience, the better.
Picking a niche is a wall that I have been banging up against for months. I see the logic in it; the more specific I am about who I coach, the easier it is to market myself as a coach. It makes sense. And yet when it comes to actually picking my niche, I get stuck. I know I don't want to be a business coach, a grief coach, a divorce coach or a dating coach. I don't want to be a corporate coach, a weight-loss coach, a speaking coach, or a parenting coach. But who DO I want to coach?
What I've got right now after many hours of talking to people and hashing it out, is this very rough version, that quite honestly, I find a little intimidating: "I'm a life coach who helps women in their thirties and forties - who are tired of not living up to their so-called potential, can't seem to get past their own perfectionism, and want to be making a bigger difference in the world - realize how amazing they are so that they can get out there and be the game-changers they know they're meant to be."
It scares me, this whole picking a niche thing. What if I pick wrong? What if I pick *too* specific and nobody comes to me for coaching? And in the meantime, as I've spent months and months struggling to narrow down my niche, what I haven't been doing is coaching anyone. I'm not introducing myself to people as an awesome life coach because I'm not sure who I'm targeting. I'm not working on my branding for my website because I'm not sure who I'm targeting.
I became a coach because I want to make a difference in the world, one person at a time. And right now, I'm. Not. Doing. That.
I have what they call "analysis paralysis". I've been stressing out over this thing for a couple of months now, which is no good (especially while we're in the process of making a baby!). And, as my sweet, ever-supportive husband pointed out, while I struggle and avoid and bang up against walls and stress out, I am depriving the world of me as a life coach.
So maybe there's a happy medium. Maybe while I work on narrowing down my niche and figuring out my branding I can actually start introducing myself as a life coach, one who empowers people to achieve what they want and to live a life they love. Who wouldn't want a little bit of that?
(Image Source)
1 comment:
Sounds like you niched! I think sometimes we have to actively move our way through this process. Get out and mingle until the right path becomes crystal clear. You've found a great starting point.
Post a Comment